MANILA, Philippines – The House of Representatives under the Marcos administration passed a bill seeking to deter bad actors from smuggling foreign cash in bulk into and out of the Philippines.

This is the second time a measure of this kind hurdled the House – a similar bill was passed in the same chamber in 2021 under the Duterte administration, but that version of the measure languished in the Senate.

Under House Bill No. 8200, people who would engage in cross-border transfer into and out of the Philippines of foreign currency exceeding $10,000 must make a written or electronic declaration under oath and submit it to the Bureau of Customs.

They should provide the following information:

• personal information of the person transporting foreign currency
• details of travel, including arrival or departure date
• legal capacity in which the person filing the declaration is acting
• information on the sender and recipient of the foreign currency
• information on the foreign currency being transported
• additional information as may be required under the implementing rules and regulations

Failure to make a declaration would be tantamount to bulk foreign currency smuggling under the proposal.

People physically transporting foreign currency exceeding $200,000 are also classified as bulk foreign currency smugglers.

Co-conspirators may be slapped with a prison sentence from six months to 14 years, depending on the gravity of the offense, and a fine from twice to up to five times the amount of the falsely declared foreign currency.

Bulk foreign currency smuggling would also be classified as a predicate offense to money laundering, according to the bill.

The bill has 41 principal authors, but the first to introduce it in the House is ways and means panel chairman Joey Salceda.

He said the measure would ramp up efforts to “clamp down on terrorist and nefarious financing.”

“It will make global financial institutions less risk-averse when dealing with our own financial institutions, which helps OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) remit money easier and cheaper,” he said on August 1.

“OFWs in Europe are already having some trouble dealing bank-to-bank as a result of our being flagged in the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force – a global watchdog for terrorist financing and money laundering.”

As of writing, the bill does not have a counterpart measure in the Senate yet. – Rappler.com